Duke Cruises by UConn

After a dominating 68-59 victory over UConn to win the NIT season tip-off in Madison Square Garden, Duke once again proved it’s going to be a formidable force this season.

The key to this Duke win was its early domination on the boards. Even though the Blue Deveils shot 29% from the field in the first half with Kyle Singler largely ineffective and in foul trouble, they still managed to have a 9 point lead going into the break thanks to a number of second chance points from its work on the offensive glass.

While many expected Duke to struggle in the backcourt after losing Gerald Henderson to the NBA and Elliot Williams to Memphis in the off-season, the hot shooting of Andre Dawkins has been a nice addition to the steady play of Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith in the backcourt.

For a complete breakdown of the game, listen to the podcast below:



Game balls

Jon Scheyer

Scheyer took care of the ball all night and lead the Blue Devels with 19 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals. You can’t be any more solid with the ball than Scheyer has been since he took over point guard duties and with a sweet shot to boot, Scheyer is one of the most complete players in the country.

Lance Thomas

Lance was a menace on the boards and filled up the stat sheet with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and 3 blocks. Lance is a guy that can guard all 5 positions on the defensive end and has been an energy guy that has set the tone on both ends of the court.

Looking into the Future

Kyrie Irving, Duke’s incoming 6-foot-2 point guard rated as the No. 9 overall player in the Class of 2010 by Rivals.com, has been compared to John Wall in the effect he will have next season. Considering Duke’s backcourt next year will feature Irving, Liberty transfer Seth Curry, Nolan Smith, and Andre Dawkins, the Blue Devils will certainly be loaded in the backcourt next season and finally have the athleticism in its backcourt that it has lacked for so many of the past few years. While this current Duke team will certainly be tough to beat, there’s a lot to look forward to with next year’s squad.

#4 Wake Forest 70, #1 Duke 68

As predicted only a few hours earlier, Wake dominated Duke in the post outscoring the Blue Devlis 42-24 down low on the way to a huge ACC home victory. For a complete analysis of the game listen to the postgame podcast below. I'd also like to remind everyone that I will be available later tonight to chat live to discuss the game.

#1 Duke vs. #4 Wake Forest Preview

There is a big game tonight as the #1 Duke Blue Devils travel to Winston-Salem for a top 5 showdown. After a long time thinking about this pick, I'm picking the Demon Deacons to pull off the upset. For my complete thoughts on the match-up listen to the pre-game podcast below. Post-game podcast will be up shortly after the game and I will be available to chat live later tonight:

Duke 83, Southern Illinois 58

After committing double digit turnovers in the first half, Duke came out after the break and flat out dominated Southern Illinois. Gerald Henderson scored 20 points and appears to have snapped out of an early season funk, Brian Zoubek proved he can be a key contributor after putting the Blue Devils on his back in the first half, and Coach K proved once again why he is one of the best coaches ever. To hear my complete thoughts on Duke’ s 83-58 victory over Southern Illinois listen to the podcast below:

Since Duke has a big game tomorrow night, I will be online tomorrow chatting live in real time from 1-3 pm Eastern time. Just come to Scrapper Nation and use the Meebo chat application on the top right.

Tase Me Bro

One of my friends volunteered to get tased last week and The Scrapper was there to catch it all on video and get a post-tasing interview. I'm going to The Swamp tomorrow to see the No.4 ranked Florida Gators (my preseason title pick) take on the no.25 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks. I'll podcast from the game but in the meantime, enjoy watching Scott get tased...



Here is it from another angle (thanks Jen):

Blue-White Scrimmage

There’s nothing like sitting 3^rd row behind the bench for the Blue-White scrimmage. I had the pleasure of doing just that on Saturday and served as the eyes and ears for Scrapper Nation. Enjoy the videos, pictures, and interview with heralded Duke recruit Ryan Kelly (all courtesy of The Scrapper's blackberry).

Format of the Scrimmage

The scrimmage was organized into two “second halves.” Each team started out with 45 points and every player started with 3 fouls. It’s obvious the major goal of the scrimmage was to work on late-game situations, a problem for recent Duke teams.

Notes

First Half-The Teams

Blue Team- Lance Thomas, Greg Paulus, Olek Czyz, Marty Pocius, Brian Zoubek, Jordan Davidson, and Elliot Williams
White Team-Nolan Smith, Gerald Henderson, Dave Mcclure, Jon Scheyer, Miles Plumlee, Kyle Singler, and Steve Johnson

1) It quickly became obvious that the white team’s roster was stacked. The trio of Henderson, Scheyer, and Singler, proved to be unstoppable.

2) In his first exposure to a true Cameroon-like atmosphere, Elliot Williams looked passive (not necessarily a bad thing at this stage, especially so considering he was being hounded on defense by Gerald Henderson).

3) Miles Plumlee appears very skilled for a freshman big man. He has a good left hand and looked confident in taking the ball, spinning, and kissing a left hand hook off the glass and in.

4) Everyone looks a little stronger and seem to be bearing the fruits of an intense summer workout regimen.

5) The new 3 point line (moved back a full foot) doesn't look like its going to affect shooting percentages too much.

At halftime the coaches switched the teams. New teams:

White-Paulus, Scheyer, Gerald, Lance, Singler, Elliot Williams
Blue-Jordan davidson, Marty, Nolan, Mcclure, Plumlee

6) Suprisingly, the blue team pulled of a shocking victory. How?

Nolan Smith looked great handling the ball and scrapped on defense (including blocking a 3 point shot attempt by Gerald Henderson). It was also great to see a healthy Marty Pocius play. He really contributed to the Blue Team’s victory in the second game. The big question is whether or not a healthy Marty will be given the opportunity to contribute.

Interview with Ryan Kelly (interview conducted by my friend Sumesh)

Ryan Kelly is a 6-9'', 210 lb. forward from Ravenscroft high school who is rated as one of the top players in next year's recruiting class and will be enrolling at Duke next fall.

Q: Ryan, are you going to be turning out to a lot of Duke games this year?

A: I'm going to try to go to as many as I can. Obviously my first priority is to my own games.

Q: When you're here watching the game, how do you think you watch the game differently than the average fan?

A: Once you've been playing for several years you get a better understanding of it all. You see the whole game not just the guy with the ball, you see the whole thing. I'd say a better understanding.

Q: How do your friends react to finding out that you're coming to Duke, any North Carolina fans?

A: Some of them love me some of them hate me. You know I think most people, even if they're Carolina fans, are going to root for me.

The Scrapper’s starting lineup:

Greg Paulus, Jon Scheyer, Gerald Henderson, Lance Thomas, and Kyle Singler.

Singler, Thomas, Zoubek, Plumlee, and Mcclure will form the rotation up front. Also look for Nolan Smith and Elliot Williams to be major contributors to the backcourt (hopefully Marty will also be able to contribute here).

The football game

I ended up going to the football game and although we lost, I think Duke really showed something by having the lead deep into the 3rd quarter against an extremely talented Miami team. Check out the video of the football team being recognized as they walk through Cameroon before the game.

Continued Dominance

“There have been a lot of natural and man-made disasters on the water. The Titanic for instance, Tom Hanks in Castaway, but the biggest disaster I’ve ever seen on the water is the second year team…we were the iceberg to their titanic. We sunk ‘em dead in the water…it was awesome.”

-Tyler after consecutive victories over the 2^nd and 4^th year water polo teams

What do you get if you mix football, swimming, soccer, rugby, and wrestling?

Water Polo.

Yeah that’s right, water polo (watch the video at the bottom of this post for a quick instructional video). The Scrapper doesn’t know much about water polo but he knows that the Wake Forest University School of Medicine’s 1^st year team might be the most dominant sports team in history (so dominant that the team managed to pull about 40 members of the 1^st year class to their latest beating).

The team pulled off two gargantuan wins in a row by thrashing the 2^nd years last Thursday and demolishing the 4^th years just last night. Listen to the podcast below and the recap of the beatings (Becca and Jessica provide the details).

Water Polo Podcast



Recap of victory over the 2^nd years

Before the previously undefeated 2^nd years knew what hit them, Becca Ur and Kip Byrum scored on back to back bombs. Obviously toying with the struggling 2^nd year team, the first years held off scoring again until the second quarter when John Vossler erupted for two Gretsky-like scores aided by the multitalented Trey Godwin (Trey also had a 60 yard run for the 1^st year flag football team tonight as they advanced in the playoffs). During the second quarter, Trey “the game changer” Godwin scored again. With the game already decided, the fourth quarter passed quickly with John Vossler completing a hat trick.

Recap of victory over the 4^th years

Following this victory over the second years, the MS1 class began playoff competition, playing the MS4 class for their first match. The notoriety of the first years had spread, resulting in a colossal crowd witnessing Tuesday night’s victory. Excellent goal keeping support was provided by Jason Paluzzi, with the final score as 8-3. While the 4^th year team was definitely larger, more experienced, and favoring a European form of beachwear, the 1^st years proved which class has the title of athletic superiority.

In the words of Tyler Pace, “We were the iceberg to their Titanic”.

Presidential Quote of the Day

“It solidifies our dominance over the medical school classes in pretty much every sport overall…it’s good to dominate everybody”

-Jimmy Turner, 1st year Class President

Happy Birthday Mr. President.

Water Polo Video

60,000 Hites

Just a few days ago Scrapper Nation crossed the 60,000 hit plateau. It’s an important milestone that couldn’t have been possible without all of you, the loyal readers of Scrapper Nation that have stuck with The Scrapper and kept coming back for more.

In response to the many emails I’ve received from readers who could care less about The Scrapper’s flag football exploits (although many of you have commended my smack talking skills), I’m devoting today’s post to real football.

--

Panthers 34, Chiefs 0

Today turned out to be a big day for the Carolina Panthers. The Panthers pummeled the Chiefs on the back of Deangelo Williams’ 123 yards rushing and 3 touchdowns. The Panthers should be proud of an effort that was without a doubt the most dominating performance to date of the current NFL season.

What word comes to mind in describing this Panthers team?

Balance.

The running game features two first round picks in Deangelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. The Panthers have quickness, agility, and game breaking speed in Deangelo Williams while Jonathan Stewart has proven himself to be the rugged, strong back that Carolina has been searching for since the Stephen Davis era.

At wide receiver, the re-arrival of Muhsin Muhammad as well as the addition of D.J. Hackett have given the Panthers legitimate threats to complement Steve Smith.

Along with upgrading skill position players and a steadied offensive line, The Panthers defense has been nothing but exceptional all year. Last year’s Panthers squad had a big problem with their rush defense. With a rejuvenated Julius Peppers, the Panthers have yet to concede a 100 yard rushing game to an opposing running back. It’s quite an accomplishment when you consider the quality of running backs the Panthers have already gone up against this season: LaDainian Tomlinson, Matt Forte, Adrian Peterson, Michael Turner, and Larry Johnson.

But you know what jersey I’m wearing to school tomorrow?

That’s right, no. 17-Jake (the snake) Delhomme. Before the season began I was nervous about how well Jake would be able to perform after having off-season Tommy John’s surgey. Delhomme is the first starting quarterback to have undergone the surgery and his chances of a full recovery weren’t certain. Jake has put all of my fears to rest with a calmness and serenity in the pocket that I haven’t ever seen from him. He has made good decisions and been the key to the Panthers’ newfound offensive firepower.

At this point in the season I think it’s safe to say that the Panthers are one of the elite teams in the NFC (along with every team in the NFC East).

Power rankings coming soon...

Reaching the Mountaintop

"Well I think no matter what it establishes us as the dominant force to be reckoned with in the med school. Obviously you can’t argue with a 3-0 record and when you’ve beaten two teams of older med school students... they got seniority on us but we sure as hell have the athleticism."

--Scott after having defeated both 2nd year med school flag football teams

It's rare to have a team that is completely dominant, undoubtedly superior, and utterly invincible. The Pats were almost that team last year, Duke Basketball does it every year, and the Wake Forest Medical School Class of 2012 Flag Football team did it tonight. And when you reach that mountain top, it’s time to talk some smack.

A week ago today, I talked about how the 1st year medical students pulled off an unbelievable upset victory over the highly hyped 2nd year medical school team (click here for a recap of that victory). Tonight, the 1st year medical students cemented their comprehensive dominance over the 2nd years by coming away with a hard fought, knock down, grind it out victory to bolster their record to 3-0 on the season.

Listen to the podcast below for post-game interviews with Ed (starting quarterback), Trey (middle linebacker/defensive coordinator) and Scott (after an LT-esque performance).





Play of the game

Before tonight I’d been going back and forth trying to decide whether the best single football play ever was the end of the Cal/Stanford game when the band started marched out on the field or the end of the Boise St./Oklahoma game a couple of years ago. After the trickery we put on tonight, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that the Wake Med 1st year students put together the single best football play in history. The breakdown:

Ed’s at QB, Scott is in the slot, and Carey’s split out wide. After the snap Carey immediately starts running a hitch and stops. As soon as Ed throws a backward pass to Scott (who runs across the line and back a few yards), Carey ditches his receiver and takes off and the two connect for a 60 yard bomb that will forever be remembered as the best play in history.

Key to the game

The 2nd years brought a lot of passion and intensity to the game tonight and made key adjustments to keep the game close. After being under intense pressure the first few series from the 1st year defensive ends (Trey, Carey, and The Scrapper), the 2nd years dropped back into the shotgun and took advantage of short dump down passes to pulling lineman. Eventually, the athleticism of the 1st year students was what sealed the victory.